Unattended Death and Biohazard Cleanup in Dixmoor, IL

Dixmoor is a village in Cook County and Thornton Township, a south suburb of Chicago bordered by Harvey to the south and east, Posen to the west, and Blue Island and Riverdale to the north.

Dixmoor was originally called Specialville — it was laid out in 1922 by Charles Special and named for him — and it was incorporated in 1923, adopting the present name Dixmoor in 1929, a name that may be derived from Dixie Highway.

Dixmoor covers only 1.25 square miles, all of it land, and Interstate 57 runs directly through the village, and the village is split between Illinois's 1st and 2nd congressional districts.

The village motto of Dixmoor is "Faith and Restoration."

Dixmoor had a population of 2,973 in the 2020 census, down 18.4% from 3,644 in 2010 and well below its peak of 4,735 in 1970.

The 2020 census counted 1,050 households and 838 families in Dixmoor, with 1,321 housing units of which 20.5% were vacant, and a median age of 36.4 years with 25.5% of residents under 18.

Dixmoor's population changed dramatically over four decades: in 2020 it was 49.95% Black, 36.66% Hispanic or Latino, and 10.43% non-Hispanic White, compared with 65.46% Black and 32.05% White in 1980.

Dixmoor children attend West Harvey-Dixmoor School District 147, whose Lincoln Elementary School, Martin Luther King Elementary School, and Rosa L. Parks Middle School are all located in Dixmoor itself.

Just north of the village is Dixmoor Playfield, with sports fields and a basketball court, and Briggs-Ellis Park offers a playground, soccer fields, a paved walking path, and a picnic pavilion, while the Kickapoo Woods and Whistler Woods forest preserves and the Major Taylor Trail are a few minutes away across the Little Calumet River.

Dixmoor's notable people include Tony Jacobs, a pitcher for the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals, and Napoleon Harris, a former NFL linebacker who has represented the 15th district in the Illinois Senate since 2013.